CHAPTER 39 Practice Quiz — Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: CHAPTER 39
How old is Pip at the beginning of Chapter 39?
Pip is twenty-three years old. His twenty-third birthday was a week prior to the events of the chapter.
Where is Herbert Pocket during Chapter 39?
Herbert is away on a business trip to Marseilles, leaving Pip alone in their Temple chambers.
What weather conditions set the scene for Magwitch's arrival?
A violent storm with furious wind and driving rain shakes the building, extinguishes staircase lamps, and tears lead from rooftops across London.
What does Magwitch do when Pip tries to repay the two one-pound notes?
Magwitch folds the new notes together, sets fire to them at the lamp, and drops the ashes into the tray, showing the money is meaningless to him now.
What is the capital danger Magwitch faces by returning to England?
Magwitch was transported for life, and returning to England is punishable by death. He tells Pip bluntly: "By G---, it's Death!"
What does Pip do after putting Magwitch to bed in Herbert's room?
Pip locks the door from the outside and sits by the dying fire all night, unable to sleep, overwhelmed by the ruin of his expectations.
What structural marker does Dickens place at the end of Chapter 39?
The chapter ends with the declaration "THIS IS THE END OF THE SECOND STAGE OF PIP'S EXPECTATIONS," marking it as the novel's central turning point.
How has Magwitch made his fortune since being transported?
He became a prosperous sheep farmer and stock-breeder in New South Wales, Australia. He inherited money from his master and then prospered in every venture he pursued.
How did Magwitch sustain himself emotionally during his years in Australia?
He kept the image of young Pip in his mind, dropping his knife at meals imagining "the boy again, a looking at me," and vowing under the open sky to make Pip a gentleman.
What does Magwitch call his relationship to Pip?
Magwitch calls himself Pip's "second father" and says Pip is his son, "more to me nor any son."
What three losses does Pip catalog as he sits by the fire after the revelation?
Pip realizes Miss Havisham's patronage was a dream, Estella was never intended for him, and — worst of all — he deserted Joe and Biddy for a convict's money.
How does Pip physically react to Magwitch's touch throughout the chapter?
Pip recoils repeatedly, shrinking from Magwitch as if "he had been a snake" and comparing the revulsion to encountering "some terrible beast."
How does Chapter 39 challenge Victorian ideas about social class?
A convicted criminal has manufactured a gentleman through money alone, proving that class status can be purchased rather than inherited and exposing the arbitrariness of class distinctions.
What double irony about class does Dickens create through Magwitch's revelation?
Magwitch takes pride in "owning" a gentleman as revenge against the class system, while Pip's disgust at his convict benefactor shows he has absorbed the very snobbery that oppresses people like Magwitch.
How does the theme of guilt operate in Chapter 39?
Pip's deepest pain is not losing Estella or Miss Havisham's patronage, but knowing he abandoned Joe and Biddy — the only people who genuinely loved him — for a convict's fortune.
What does Magwitch's return suggest about gratitude and obsession?
Magwitch's gratitude has hardened into an all-consuming obsession. His desire to see "his gentleman" in person drives him to risk execution, blurring the line between love and possession.
What is pathetic fallacy, and how does Dickens use it in Chapter 39?
Pathetic fallacy attributes human emotions to nature. The violent storm that shakes Pip's building and extinguishes lights mirrors the emotional destruction of his illusions and foreshadows danger.
How does dramatic irony build tension during Magwitch's questioning?
The reader grasps the truth before Pip does as Magwitch asks about his income ("Five?"), his guardian, and a lawyer whose name begins with J — each clue narrowing the answer Pip dreads.
What structural symmetry connects Chapter 39 to the novel's opening?
The novel begins with a terrified child encountering a convict on the marshes; the second stage ends with that same convict returning to shatter the gentleman the child has become.
How does Dickens use light imagery when the stranger first appears?
Pip's reading lamp casts a narrow circle of light, and the stranger moves in and out of it on the staircase, symbolizing partial recognition and the incomplete knowledge Pip is about to confront.
What does "relinquished" mean in the context of Pip's interaction with Magwitch?
It means to voluntarily give up or abandon. Pip relinquished his intention to physically restrain Magwitch once he recognized the convict.
What does Magwitch mean by calling Pip a "game one"?
In Victorian slang, "game" means brave or spirited. Magwitch is praising Pip's courage in confronting a stranger on a dark staircase at night.
What does "spec'lated" mean in Magwitch's dialect speech?
It is Magwitch's pronunciation of "speculated," meaning he invested money in business ventures. He tells Pip that once he speculated and got rich, Pip would get rich too.
Who says "Yes, Pip, dear boy, I've made a gentleman on you! It's me wot has done it!" and why is it significant?
Magwitch says this as he reveals himself as Pip's benefactor. It is the chapter's climactic line, collapsing Pip's world by confirming that a convict — not Miss Havisham — funded his gentleman's life.
What does Pip mean when he reflects: "sharpest and deepest pain of all — it was for the convict... that I had deserted Joe"?
Pip realizes the cruelest irony of his life: he abandoned the honest, loving Joe not for aristocratic patronage but for a convict's money, making his betrayal of Joe utterly pointless.
What does Magwitch's warning "By G---, it's Death!" reveal about the stakes of his return?
It reveals that Magwitch has risked execution just to see Pip. As a convict transported for life, returning to England is a capital offense, raising the tension for the novel's final stage.